August1991 Posted April 30, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2016 Calculus was first discovered in the 1600s. By 1800, how many humans understood how to take a derivative? There are about 7 billion people nowadays, in 2000 or so. How many understand the concept of a slope? In 2050, how many people will easily understand that the slope of x3 is 2x2? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyeball Posted April 30, 2016 Report Share Posted April 30, 2016 IMHO, for each generation, across the world, we have to teach alot of children alot of stuff. How best to do this? By starting with kindergarten. You can't leapfrog that first critically important step where kids learn how to learn. Civilly that is, with attention, so as to not interrupt others. You can't learn calculus with spitballs and paper airplanes flying around the room. Quote A government without public oversight is like a nuclear plant without lead shielding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hal 9000 Posted April 30, 2016 Report Share Posted April 30, 2016 On the contrary, kids don't teach themselves. They don't "spontaneously" invent calculus. Humans are not born with the knowledge of differential calculus embedded in their genes. My OP questions this "beauty about kindergarten" that you simply pre-suppose, assume. ====== IMHO, for each generation, across the world, we have to teach alot of children alot of stuff. How best to do this? Eyeball is quoting an old socialist adage about "all I really need to know, i learned in kindergarten". It's printed on a bunch of elementary posters (like the "hang in there" cat) and i think it's even a book...because that's just how important kindergarten teachers are. Now he's trying to defend the position - I'll give him a mulligan on it. Personnally, I think you're supposed to be civilized before the age of 5, if not, then what kind of parents do you have? And, I think you civility changes and keeps growing - even after kindergarten (unless you're a millennial). Quote The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so. - Ronald Reagan I have said that the Western world is just as violent as the Islamic world - Dialamah Europe seems to excel at fooling people to immigrate there from the ME only to chew them up and spit them back. - Eyeball Unfortunately our policies have contributed to retarding and limiting their (Muslim's) society's natural progression towards the same enlightened state we take for granted. - Eyeball Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyeball Posted April 30, 2016 Report Share Posted April 30, 2016 I suppose something along the lines of a Klingon military prep school would be more to the liking of most right wingers. Beat civilization into the little bastards. Quote A government without public oversight is like a nuclear plant without lead shielding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
August1991 Posted May 3, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2016 (edited) I suppose something along the lines of a Klingon military prep school would be more to the liking of most right wingers. Beat civilization into the little bastards. The left wing (the Soviet Union, State Monopolies, Hydro-Quebec, Ontario Hydro) is noted for a lack of choice, and rapid (progressive/revolutionary) change. The right wing is famous for protection of individual choice, and slow (conservative) change. Eyeball: Your call, what is "left wing" or "right wing"? ===== I frankly think that we in the West, whether left or right, teach most stuff badly. Our teaching/advertising/educating is designed for the already converted; we typically teach to the parish, (or the non-parishioners pretend to tell us what we want to hear and we think they're educated). Yet, we in the West have some really neat stuff to show others on this planet. Let's do it. (or as ee cummings said... ) Edited May 3, 2016 by August1991 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
August1991 Posted May 3, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2016 Personnally, I think you're supposed to be civilized before the age of 5, if not, then what kind of parents do you have? And, I think you civility changes and keeps growing - even after kindergarten (unless you're a millennial). I strongly disagree. Many children, born in 1935 or 1940 in Europe, lived in horribly uncivilized circumstances; yet they became "civilized" human beings, and had/raised largely civilized children. ==== From gypsies in Austria-Hungary to Natives in Canada, how do we create a civilized, sustainable society for all in this 21st century? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 3, 2016 Report Share Posted May 3, 2016 (edited) The right wing is famous for protection of individual choice This may have been the case before my time, but now the opposite is true. Edited May 3, 2016 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
August1991 Posted May 5, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2016 (edited) This may have been the case before my time, but now the opposite is true.Before your time? They were even before my time. Slick, have you ever heard of Barry Goldwater, Frédéric Bastiat, Milton Friedman (Freedom To Choose), Ayn Rand (We The Living). Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein certainly know about the "Freedom To Choose" - each one is clearly an independent individual within their marriage. Free to say/do what each thinks/can. ====== The terms "Right Wing" and "Left Wing" are misnomers. (BTW, the terms date from the French Revolution, about 200 years ago, when "identity" invented a new way to decide a team.) Edited May 5, 2016 by August1991 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
August1991 Posted May 5, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2016 (edited) Reading through this thread... By starting with kindergarten. You can't leapfrog that first critically important step where kids learn how to learn. Civilly that is, with attention, so as to not interrupt others. You can't learn calculus with spitballs and paper airplanes flying around the room. eyeball, you may have a point. How do kids learn how to learn? ====== With that said, even someone at 30 or 50 can learn; and they probably by then have their own way of learning. Edited May 5, 2016 by August1991 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cannuck Posted June 3, 2016 Report Share Posted June 3, 2016 well, to begin with, kids don't learn to learn in kindergarten. They have by then already had the best 5 years of learning they will ever do. They don't need to be taught to learn. HOWEVER: they will indeed learn whatever we choose to teach them. I am not sure I have made it to "civilized" quite yet, but I do keep trying. I grew up on DND NATO bases, and thought I had a pretty good idea of what the world was all about. Decades of travel doing business in Europe, MENA, North Africa and Asia (particularly China) sure changed my perception. I had the fantastic good fortune to have mentors in several countries that were part of the fabric of the nation and some historically significant times and events. Civilization has many faces and interpretations, and I think part of becoming civilized is to learn to assess things from different perspectives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.